If you haven’t read the first part of this story, here’s the link. Kindly read it before starting this one.

My mother’s behavior got me worried. Yes, I expected her to be angry but the extent she went with her anger got me worried. Everyone I spoke to told me not to worry; “She’s just hurt. She’ll come around. You only have to assure her that it won’t happen again and she would be fine.” Sometimes I wasn’t bothered. I told myself, “I only visited a man. I didn’t kill anyone. Whenever she’s ready to talk to me, I will be here.” There were times I was bothered. Let’s face it, all my life she’s been the only one who had been there for me. She went through a lot to bring me to a level I can call myself a man. Such a person cannot be dusted off as if she doesn’t matter. I needed to do everything to get her to hear my side of the story. She wasn’t ready to listen to me so I allowed time to work its magic on her. “If time heals, then definitely she would be healed with time. I would give her that time.” 

But I couldn’t stop thinking about her and what to do to make things right. One day I said to myself, “She’s already angry so why don’t I use the time available to me to engage my father to hear his side of the story as many people suggested when I posted my story? When mom comes back to being cool with me I can’t continue seeing my father.”

I picked up the phone and called my brother. I told him to give me his mother’s phone number. He asked me, “Why my mom but not dad?” We argued but he later sent it to me. I called her one evening and told her what has happened between me and my mom after I’d visited them. She said, “It’s expected. She’s a woman and she’s the one who went through all the stress. She won’t be angry forever. Just give her some time.” I told her, “The level of her anger is what surprises me. Do you know what happened? I mean what happened between her and my dad?” She said, “There are questions I myself didn’t get answers to. I will have to rely on you to get those answers. So come home to him. Ask the questions. He still has his voice though it’s fading by the day.” I pushed her until she gave me a gist of what happened.

This is what she told me. When my father met my mother, he was already married to aunt Bee. They had been married for five years without a child. She said at some point my father thought the problem was from her and even threatened that he would get himself another woman. My dad met my mom in a village closer to our hometown. They got along when they realized they were town mates. My dad didn’t say anything about his marital status to my mother so my mother assumed he wasn’t married. They started seeing each other and a few months later, my mother got pregnant. My mother wanted to be married before she gave birth. She wanted to meet my father’s family but my father always kept postponing until he finally told her the truth that he was married. 

My father was ready to make my mother his second wife but just when my mother was falling for the idea of becoming a second wife, my father’s wife also got pregnant. That was when he told my mother that the marriage proposal was off the table because the reason he wanted to marry her was no longer valid. He took my mother home to meet his wife. That was before my dad withdrew the marriage proposal. My mom and aunt Bee clicked and became close buddies. They were almost like sisters. Aunt Bee told me, “I loved your mom so much because she respected me the very first day she met me. She even vacated her seat so I could sit on it when the matter came out for discussion. It wasn’t her fault. So I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t agree to her becoming the second wife because I knew she would get her own man to marry.”

So they agreed that my father would take care of me just the way he would take care of his wife’s child. Aunt Bee said, “Along the way something happened that got your mother angry. Neighbors told me she came around here to fight your dad but your father never opened up to me about it. The next time I went to look for your mother, they told me she had traveled to live with her grandmother. I didn’t see her again until years later when the issue had died.” 

After listening to the story, I concluded that my mother was right to be angry but I was also interested to know what happened before the fight so I went to my father to listen to him. He couldn’t talk audibly so I didn’t want to worry him with a long story. I asked a simple question; “So what happened before my mother came to fight you that day?” He answered, “I didn’t have money that day. It was time to pay fees. She thought I was intentionally delaying but honestly, I didn’t have the money. That was the cause of the fight. You were in class four I think. I didn’t hear from her again and didn’t see you again.” 

“Did you come looking for us?” 

“That was my mistake. But I still didn’t have the money so there was no need for me to come looking for you.”

“I came to look for you. I spent time with you. I didn’t come to ask for money yet you ignored me.”

“At that time, you were far gone. I couldn’t claim you or make any move to claim you. I knew your mother would have resisted because she was still bitter that I couldn’t pay the fees.”

I should have been angry but as I said earlier, there was no filial connection between us to make me feel angry. “He didn’t want me,” I concluded. When I was leaving the house, aunt Bee came to me. She pleaded for forgiveness. I said, “There’s nothing to forgive. If anything, I’m most grateful that he brought me into this world. I’m here because he made a way. I still bear his name and I won’t change it. That’s the homage I’m paying for his role in my existence.”

READ ALSO: If A Man Forgets To Pay His Tithe Then He Won’t Remember To Provide For You

When my mother was proving stubborn, I gave her number to Aunt Bee. She called her and explained everything to her. I wasn’t there when they talked so I didn’t hear the content of their conversation. After she spoke to my mom she called and said, “Call her. I believe she’ll pick.” I called my mom and she did pick up. She said, “I spoke to Bee. I think I understand. I take my words back.” She didn’t say sorry, but I forgave her. 

We’ve been good since then. 

A day before valentine’s, my mom called me. She said, “Have you heard the news?” I answered, “What news?” She said, “Your brother hasn’t called you?” I answered, “No, I haven’t heard from him for a very long time. She said, “Bee called hours ago. Your father is gone.” I was silent for a while. I didn’t know how to feel. In fact, I was scared to even feel something. “What if I get sad and it annoys my mother?” I said, “Wow, that’s bad.” She said, “Your father died and that’s all you can say?” I answered, “Honestly, I don’t know what to say or feel.” She said, “In case you want to attend the funeral, let me know. We can go together. I’m doing this because of Bee.”

I couldn’t attend the funeral. It wasn’t intentional. Job issues came in the way. My mom went. She came back and told me everything. Her voice was shaky at some point. She was sad but was trying hard to hide it. She threw the funeral brochure at me and said, “Your name is in there. You’re one of his sons.” 

–Fii 

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